City of Powell River councillors were urged to take a stand regarding the Canadian banking system.
At the September 2 committee of the whole meeting, Guy Hawkins appeared as a delegation and pointed councillors to a graph showing Canada’s public debt since confederation. He said the graph started to increase after an amendment was made to the Bank of Canada Act.
“When they amended the Bank of Canada Act, they allowed the Bank of Canada to accept interest-bearing deposits,” said Hawkins. “When you go to the bank, you trade your money for a deposit receipt. The money now belongs to the bank.
“When the Bank of Canada starts borrowing money at interest is when this graph takes off.”
Hawkins said the Bank of Canada was created in 1934 as a public and private partnership. By 1938, the bank was 100 per cent owned by the federal government, added Hawkins.
He said when the Bank of Canada Act was amended, the bank now had loans that it has to pay interest on.
“That money, they started lending to the government,” said Hawkins. “All of a sudden, we are paying private investors. That is in fact extortion.
“We don’t have to pay interest to private investors. We have a trillion dollars in debt, but because it was gained by extortion, we are not liable. No court will enforce a contract that is gained by extortion.”
Hawkins said this is a problem that can be addressed by saying that it is over.
“If you take this information and people in British Columbia get mad, then we can do something,” said Hawkins. “What I’m asking is for you to make that step to begin the process of doing something.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said the matter was outside of city council’s mandate to comment on government banking policies.
“It’s not that we are not listening, it’s very difficult for us to make a comment about something that is outside our jurisdiction,” said Elliott. “Each one of us can advocate in our own ways at various forums, so if you talk to individual councillors to see if you can make your case that way, when we go to these forums, we speak individually, advocating.”
Councillor Earl Almeida said this matter is more up the alley of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“They are constantly pushing the federal government for changes,” said Almeida. “The taxpayers federation is a much bigger group with a bigger voice that can also spread that word.”
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